BACK AT ONE
by Talks
Summary: "It's a Brian McKnight song" Canon until the break up in Season 4 Brittana*AU*Canon
1. Chapter 1

**Noon**

Santana looked both ways before jogging across the busy street, her red Sperry duck boots slapping against the slushy snow as she ran. She jumped out of the way of an oncoming Toyota Camry that was speeding and nearly hit her, quickly ripping her glove off and giving the driver her middle finger, before making a snow ball and throwing it down the street at the car.

"Bastard!" She yelled angrily. "I need to move the hell out of New York." She grumbled as she finally reached the sidewalk and stomped her feet, trying to knock the snow off. It was a chilling 15 degrees out, so she was dressed in black jeans, a black high neck cashmere sweater, and a black Northface down coat, that fell to her knees, a black wool hat covered her head, with the hood of her coat clinched tightly around her face.

As she walked in Qdoba she took a deep breath, enjoying the warmth of the restaurant for a moment. New York was in the middle of a deep freeze and while she wanted nothing more than to stay cuddled in her warm condo, wrapped in a blanket on her couch while watching Netflix, but she stayed in the past four days during the blizzard, and was now out of food. Even though she ordered groceries from Amazon she was starving, so decided to walk the two blocks to Qdoba for a quick bite before heading back home, hoping that her groceries would be waiting at her front door for her. She took her coat off and set it down at a corner table, groaning when she saw the snow start to fall again.

After ordering her burrito and grabbing her Pepsi, she sat down and pulled out of her phone, browsing Instagram while she began to eat. She was halfway through her burrito when she heard a familiar laugh and looked up quickly.

"Brittany?" She smiled, standing up quickly to hug the blonde when she turned around and they made eye contact.

"Santana!" Brittany exclaimed. "Oh my God, babe, it's been years!"

"Shit, since high school really." Santana laughed, hugging Brittany again. "It's so good to see you."

Brittany stared at her highschool sweetheart and blushed. "Let me grab some tacos, and I'll join you, if you don't mind."

"Of course, come on over." Santana beamed. She stared at Brittany as the blonde, chatted with the people in line. Staring at her black jeans, tall black Uggs, and bright yellow wool coat, her long blonde hair in loose curls spilling out of a matching hat on her head. A few minutes later Britany set her tray down at the Latina's table, and winked at her before walking over to the soda machine, getting a diet coke with ginger and lime.

"So this is a crazy but pleasant surprise." Brittany stated, taking her coat off and tossing it over the back of her chair.

"I know, right." Santana nodded, taking a big bite of her burrito. "I didn't even know you were in New York, here visiting?" She mumbled.

Brittany laughed, remembering how much Santana would talk with food in her mouth, but never found it gross like she did with other people. "No, I actually moved here about a year ago."

"What?" Santana raised an eyebrow. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah." Brittany shrugged, biting into her taco.

"And we haven't seen each other." Santana frowned.

"I'm busy, you're busy, we haven't exactly kept in touch since highschool, outside of like Facebook groups and writing _happy birthday_ on each other's Facebook walls." Brittany retorted. "You went to college and left everyone from Lima behind."

Santana shook her head. "That's not fair."

"Life isn't fair, but that doesn't mean you ignore the truth." Brittany shrugged again. "We broke up, well you dumped me, and then you disappeared."

Santana tossed her burrito down and wiped her mouth. "You're right, and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to let it go that long without us talking, life just happened. I needed space after the breakup, and I wanted to give you space after the break up and the next thing I knew...well it's been 6 years. _But_, since we are both in New York now, there's no reason for us to not stay in contact now, right?" She smiled brightly, showing all of her teeth.

Brittany rolled her eyes but nodded with a smile. "Right."

The two chatted while they finished their lunch, Santana explaining how after she broke up with Brittany she went back to school and was able to reenroll with her same scholarship, since she wasn't out of school for that long when she left. She graduated with a bachelor degree in finance, and while minoring in computer science. She moved to New York right after college when she accepted a position at the firm she interned for the summer before her senior year. Working her way up through the company over the past three years gave her a senior account manager position. She owned a two bedroom condo a few blocks away from the Qdoba she was currently at, and felt like her life was going great at the moment.

Brittany filled Santana on in how she graduated from highschool the next year, and began taking classes at the community college hoping to get enough credits to transfer to a four year college eventually. While taking general classes she took a number of different classes hoping to find a definite interest. She began to take her internet show _Fondue for Two_ more seriously and eventually revamped the channel, calling it _My Little Pierce of the World_, where she quickly rose to Internet stardom discussing TV shows, talking about pop culture, and reviewing different products that companies would send her, but her biggest videos were her vlogs. She would go to different restaurants, museums, zoos, parks, etc and film the entire process, while the public loved because of her bubbly personality and down to earth conversation. She moved to New York to take her channel to the next level, and explore more of the city and the surrounding areas, which tripled her viewership in the past year.

"Wait...that's your job now?" Santana asked, her eyes widening.

"Cool, right." Brittany giggled.

"Fucking amazing." Santana nodded in agreement. "I need to check out one of your videos."

"You don't watch?" Brittany frowned.

"No, sorry." Santana replied truthfully.

"Hmmmmm," Brittany tapped her chin. "Well I guess you have some catching up to do." She winked.

Santana laughed while nodding. "I guess so. So what are you up to this evening? I would invite you out for drinks, but no one should be out in this weather, and I think it's going to snow."

Brittany shrugged. "No plans, just going to hang around my apartment."

Santana picked up Brittany's phone and called herself, blushing slightly when she saw Brittany still had her phone number saved, with a smiley next to her name. "Call me, and we can really catch up, I can provide wine, snacks, and Netflix, if you want to come over to my place. I live about 2 blocks east." She suggested.

Brittany thought for a moment, staring at the Latina as she took a sip of her drink. She stood up, putting her coat pack on, and carried her garbage to toss out. She walked back over to the table and picked up her cell phone. "Maybe."

Santana watched Brittany walk out of the restaurant and smirked. "She'll call."

* * *

**8pm**

Santana was fast asleep on her couch, having dozed off while watching a movie. After meeting Brittany she headed back home, happy to see her delivery grocery pulling up as she walked to the building, after putting her groceries away, she took a hot shower to warm up before doing some light cleaning and dusting around her apartment, having neglected it for the past month or so. She then baked some cookies and found a movie to watch while snuggled on the couch. She heard her phone ring for the third time and groaned as she blindly reached for it, answering groggily. She ran her fingers through her hair, flipping it all to the back as she chatted with Brittany who informed her she was down in the area, and was was willing to stop by and talk.

Santana gave Brittany her address and ran to the bathroom to freshen up a little, washing her face and brushing her teeth, by the time she finished her door was buzzing so she jogged over and buzzed Brittany in. "She must have been literally outside the building." She looked around her living room at the blanket and pillow and shrugged, "it's short notice, so this is the vibe she's getting." She yawned as she lit her fireplace and walked to the door when she heard a knock.

"Hey." She smiled, stepping to the side as Brittany hugged her and walked in. She sighed in relief when she saw Brittany was dressed in joggers and a hoodie. "you look comfy." Brittany laughed softly, staring at Santana's snowflake footed pajamas.

Santana stretched and nodded. "The comfiest." She replied with a smile. "I actually just woke up from a nap, so I don't have the snacks I promised earlier ready, so make yourself at home, and I'll give you a tour in a moment." She told her, walking to the kitchen and quickly popping a frozen spinach and artichoke dip in the oven, with a box of breadsticks. She then quickly made fresh pico and gaucomole, rummaging through her fridge and cabinets, glancing at Brittany every so often. "Red or white wine?" She asked Brittany, who was walking around her living room, staring at pictures.

"Pinot noir?" Brittany asked.

"Yes."

"That works." Brittany replied. She smiled at the picture of Santana in her cap and gown from college, a picture of her and Mercedes at a New York Knicks game, a picture of her and Quinn. She looked at pictures of her parents, and some cousins she recognized and remembered from highschool. She looked at the artwork and nodded at how modern but comfy Santana's living room looked.

The Latina walked over with a glass of wine and handed it to Brittany, "I'll give you a tour." She led the blonde through the condo, talking about the different art pieces she got from different countries she visited, while Brittany made small talk when it was a country or city she herself had been to.

They finally made their way back to the living room where Santana began to spread out the snacks she quickly made, bringing the bottle of wine out and setting it on the table as well. They snacked in silence for a few minutes before Santana spoke up. "You know it takes two people to stay in touch."

Brittany bit down on a chip and raised her eyebrow. "Excuse me."

"Earlier you said that I went to college and disappeared, but I don't recall getting emails or texts, or phone calls from you either." She shrugged. "This isn't all my fault, and I won't solely take the blame."

Brittany scoffed. "You dumped me, was I supposed to call you to see how you were doing afterwards?"

"You could have acted like you fuckin cared." Santana snapped. "You didn't fight for our relationship or anything."

"I'm not going to beg someone to want to be with me." Brittany spit out angrily. "You know what, this was a mistake, I see why we haven't spoken in years, you are still the same self centered girl b-I-t-c-h as you were in highschool.

Santana's eyes widened. "Yeah I am a bitch, so what, always have been, always will be." She stated, her eyes quickly welling up with tears.

Brittany noticed the tears and deflated. "Santana..."

"Fuck it, it's fine." Santana replied, knocking back her glass of wine quickly before jumping up and walking back to her bedroom, slamming the door.

Brittany picked up a chip and threw it back down quickly. "Fuck." She groaned, pulling her ponytail down and running her hands through her hair before walking back to Santana's bedroom, she stood outside the door, debating on knocking before jogging back to the living room and grabbing the wine bottle.

She stood outside the door, listening to Santana sniffle before softly knocking and opening the door slowly. "San."

"What?" Santana sighed, looking up at her from her window seat, her knees pulled up to her chest.

"I'm sorry; you're right." Brittany told her, walking in and sitting behind her, leaning Santana back on her chest and hugging her, resting her chin on her shoulder. A deep calm coming over the both of them instantly, as she felt Santana exhale deeply. "I didn't reach out to you because I was so mad at you, and I guess I'm still kind of mad at you for breaking up with me. You _left _me. You were all I had at McKinley, and you left me. I hated you for months."

Santana sat up and turned around to face Brittany, "so we both fucked up. I was wrong, you were wrong. Let's just leave it at that."

Brittany reached up and wiped away one of her tears softly. "I still hate to see you cry." She smiled softly.

"My eyes are sweating, I'm not crying." Santana smiled, wiping her eyes and exhaling softly. "We were supposed to be catching up, right?"

"Yes." Brittany nodded.

Santana took the wine bottle and took a long sip, passing it to Brittany, who mimicked her action. "So let's have some fun, we are starting over fresh."

Brittany stood up and nodded, following the Latina out of the bedroom. They settled back in the living room as Santana turned on an Apple Music playlist and the two fell back into a casual conversation about their college years, and current events. Santana then turned on a playlist of songs from when they were in highschool causing the two to dance around, and make up routines, that they would quickly forget since they were on their second bottle of wine.

* * *

**Midnight**

"Okay pizza is here." Santana smiled as she carried the pizza over to Brittany, the two having decided to order a pizza hoping to suck up some of the liquor they consumed the past couple of hours.

Brittany immediately reached for a slice and took a huge bite, as Santana sat back across from her on the floor. "Okay, this is good."

"Always request red onions instead of regular ones." Santana nodded slowly. "I'm really glad you came over, Brittany. I've missed this..." She motioned between the two of them. "I'm not just being like overly sappy because I'm drunk, like I mean this shit, B." She blushed while taking another bite of her pizza.

Brittany blushed, "I missed this too, you've always been my best friend, and I'm happy we're back."

"Totally." Santana winked, taking another sip of her wine.

"You know what else I missed?" Brittany smirked, staring at the Latina, who was picking pepperoni off of another slice and piling it on her slice. "Your lips."

Santana looked up quickly and swallowed thickly as Brittany leaned forward and pressed their lips together, pushing her tongue in Santana's mouth right away, causing the Latina to moan softly as she broke the kiss abruptly. She ran her thumb over her lips before standing up and reaching her hand out to Brittany, pulling to stand up, she closed the gap between them and hugged her tightly while connecting their lips again, breaking the kiss with a wet pop before peppering Brittany's lips. She once again led her to back to the bedroom and sat down, motioning for Brittany to join her, which the blonde quickly did, she lifted Santana on her lap and hugged her tightly as the two kissed, leaning back slowly.

* * *

**6am**

Santana cleared her throat as she woke up, her eyes focused on the mess of blonde hair sprawled on the pillow in front of her. She kissed Brittany's shoulder before sliding out of bed and walking to the bathroom. When she got back to bed she spooned Brittany tightly, nestling her chin in the crook between Brittany's head and shoulder, leaning over to kiss down her jaw before going back to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

It's been over a week since Brittany stayed over Santana's place, and while they Santana now followed Brittany on Instagram, the two had only spoken once, via Cashapp when Brittany sent Santana the money for the pizza that she promised her when they ordered it. The two finally woke up around 10am, each with a massive hangover from the night before. They laid in bed, in and out of sleep, random cuddling until around 2pm when they moved to the living room and watched TV, Santana making grilled cheese and soup for lunch. They didn't talk about the night before, they didn't discuss why they had sex, or even mention the raw undeniable attraction they still had for each other. They just...were. They binge watched a season of The Office before Brittany finally showered and headed home around 6pm, kissing Santana a soft good bye on the lips before walking out of the door. Santana took a shower herself and made herself a grilled salmon salad for dinner, going right back to sleep afterwards.

While neither of them regretted what happened, they didn't exactly know how to approach the situation either, so they both went back to their individual lives. Santana was swamped with work at the moment, so on top of her long hours in the office, she would come home and work for a few more hours before falling asleep while watching the eleven o'clock news. Brittany in turn was busily filming a new food vlog on her channel, chronically which restaurants in the city had the best french fries, she was also partnering with Vans on a project so she had a few meetings with them, via phone and in person, so she was just as busy. While they did think about the other, they never took any action, or made any effort to contact the other. It was almost as if they never ran into each other.

It was a Thursday night, Santana was walking out of the office, yawning with each step when her phone went off with a text message from Quinn, inviting her over for a girls night, drinks and dinner. Ordinarily with as tired as Santana was, she would cancel but she was starving and didn't feel like cooking or stopping to pick up food, so she quickly accepted. Since she planned on working from home Friday, in anticipation of the snowstorm that was schedule to hit Friday afternoon. Tossing her work bag in the back of her white Range Rover, she made her way to Quinn's house out in the suburbs.

She reached the blonde's house in record time, pulling into her driveway, raising her eyebrow at the extra car in the driveway, but shrugged and hopped out, grabbing her work bag she made her way to the front door, ringing the doorbell and knocking.

"Hey, hun." Quinn smiled as she opened the door, huggint he Lattina, as Santana kissed her on the cheek and stepped in the house.

"Hey, it's fuckin freezing out." Santana groaned, slipping her boots off as Quinn took her coat. "What did you cook?" She asked, following Quinn to the kitchen.

"Salmon, brussel sprouts, and jasmin rice." Quinn replied, picking lint off of her yellow sweater. "You look cute."

Santana glanced down at her grey slacks, white and red pin striped collared shirt, and white Gucci cardigan sweater; her hair was pinned to the side with loose curls, and she wore a light layer of natural make up. "Thanks, do you have any sweats I can put on?"

"Yeah, I just did laundry." Quinn nodded, "I'll open some wine for us, look in my closet."

While Santana changed, Quinn looked through her wine collection and picked out a bottle, opening it and pouring two glasses while she made their plates and carried them to the dining room table. She then sat down and waited for Santana, who reappeared a few moments later.

"This looks good." Santana smiled as she sat down, now wearing a pair of black yoga pants, her collared shirt now untucked, and her cardigan sweater now unbuttoned. "So...you usually aren't this short notice, what's up?" She asked, taking a sip of her wine.

"Nothing."

"Bullshit." Santana mumbled through her mouthful of food, taking a sip of her wine to wash it down.

"Want to go to Philadelphia with me next weekend?" Quinn asked.

"Why?"

"I need a date for this wedding." Quinn replied.

Santana rolled her eyes. "You only invite me to shit when you need a date." She snapped. "You are paying for my train ticket and the hotel, and I'm not buying a gift."

"Done." Quinn smiled happily. "And that's not true, you know it's not true."

"Who's getting married?" Santana asked, glancing at her phone as it rang, deciding to call the person back later.

"Sorority sister." Quinn replied casually.

Santana frowned. "I don't like any of your sorority sisters, you know that, and why don't you want an actual date?"

"We'll have more fun together."

"So I'm your buffer to leave early." Santana laughed. "Fine, I'll go, it'll be nice to get out of the city for a little bit. Do I need to take off of work on Friday?"

"Half day should be fine, workaholic." Quinn rolled her eyes.

Santana nodded. "Okay, so you could have texted or called me to ask me this, you are buttering me up by cooking dinner...so talk."

"Hook me up with the guy at your job."

"Who?" Santana frowned, leaning back in her chair and sipping her wine.

"Derrick." Quinn blushed.

Santana smirked, "You aren't his type..."

"You're such a bitch."

Santana scoffed. "Bitch, he likes men, so unless you wanna cut your hair off and go by Quinten, you're not his fuckin type. I mean your voice is deep enough."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "It's been a while and I need sex."

Santana raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah..."

"Not with you." Quinn laughed. "That was one time in college."

Santana laughed loudly. "One time a day, maybe." She licked her lips, "Fun times." She teased. "Ummmm, seriously Derrick won't work, but Michael might be more your speed, or even Thaddeus, yes! Thaddeus is perfect, he's a trust fund baby, but didn't let that define him, he went to Princeton, and is an international investment banker."

"Oh la la." Quinn blushed.

Santana pulled up his Instagram, showing Quinn. "Cute, right?"

"How do you manage to go without sex?' Quinn then asked.

Santana laughed loudly, "look at me, do I look like I go without?" She smirked. "We'll get you laid." She nodded.

* * *

Brittany waved at the camera before stop and rolling her neck around slowly. "5 videos today...I'm a beast." She smiled to herself before plugging up her camera to her iMac and downloading the videos. While her over 12 hours of video downloaded she went to the kitchen in her two bedroom apartment and started to make tacos for dinner. She was dancing around the kitchen when there was a knock on her apartment door, causing her to raise an eyebrow but skip over and look through the peephole.

"What the hell?!" She screeched, opening the door and seeing Rachel. "When did you get back in town?"

"This morning." Rachel smiled hugging Brittany tightly. "You look great, hon, glowing and everything."

"Thanks." Brittany blushed as she took Rachel's coat. "Have a seat."

Rachel was on tour currently in in a new broadway play that had her overseas for six months, and now that she was back in the states, she had been touring the past six months as well. So when Brittany first moved to New York they were able to grab dinner only once before Rachel had to jet set across the pond to London. Brittany and Rachel got close when Rachel went back to McKinley and worked with the glee club to get some ready for Nationals. During a trip to Chicago for regionals they had a heart to heart where Brittany talked about how alone she felt now that the rest of her friends had graduated and moved on. It was the first time Brittany expressed out loud how bad she felt about not graduating on time, and how she felt that Santana had now let her behind twice. First when she graduated and didn't even realize that her girlfriend was failing and then again when she broke up with her. From there their friendship blossomed, and they stayed in touch, with Brittany going to New York to spend weekends and hang out with Rachel, and Rachel making sure to hang out with Brittany when she came back to Lima to visit her dads. She was the one that helped Brittany out with her college essays, and helped her out with the formatting of her channel, allowing Brittany to bounce ideas off of her initially.

"The apartment looks great." Rachel beamed. "You got the painting I sent!"

Brittany glanced a the wall, nodding at the huge painting that Rachel gifted her from Paris when she reached 500,000 subscribers on her Youtube channel a few months ago. "Yes, it's gorg, I can't thank you enough for it. I would offer you tacos but, they are ground beef tonight."

"It's cool, I'll just make a taco with avocado, do you have any?" Rachel asked, stepping out of her heels and walking to the kitchen, washing her hands at the sink.

"Yeah." Brittany nodded.

The two ate while laughing and talking the night away, filling each other in on the past year, Brittany talking about how she was getting acclimated to the city. While Brittany loved New York, it was a bit too fast paced for her at times. She also revealed that she did miss her younger sister and her parents at times, but knew she was making them proud, and she knew that living in New York was the best city for her career at the moment. Rachel talked about excited she was to finally be back home and on a break from the tour. She filled Brittany in on the new guy she was dating and encouraged Brittany to start dating. Warning her that having all the money in the world, and being able to travel the world while having a career that she loved is nothing is she has no one to spend her downtime with.

"It's hard Rachel, I work like crazy, even though people don't think what I do is actual work, trust me it is. I have to get film, edit, and produce all my videos, promote them, do photoshop, make sure I have original and exciting content...I'm busy always." Brittany stated.

"I get it hun, but just get out a little more. Have you talked to anyone from home, you know Santana, Quinn, Mercedes, and Kurt all live in New York." Rachel asked. "While Santana is dead to me, and I to her, Quinn is tolerable when she's not around Santana, and Mercedes is the same."

Brittany raised an eyebrow, "Mercedes and Quinn live here?"

"Yes, I'm glad you didn't ask about Santana." Rachel rolled her eyes. "She's still so immature, you know we had this huge fight, where she slapped me in Times Square, I made sure she got arrested."

Brittany choked on her water. "What?"

"She deserved it." Rachel snapped. "Keep your hands to yourself."

"Good grief." Brittany rolled her eyes.

**Midnight**

Brittany was flipping through channels on TV and decided to follow Rachel's advice to go out and meet some new people, people that didn't involve work. So she jumped up and got dressed, putting on a pair of fitted jeans and a tight black tshirt, with a pastel pink blazer. After calling an Uber she made her way to a bar and confidently walked in, surprised to see how empty it was. She laughed softly to herself but shrugged and sat at the bar.

"What can I get ya?"

"She likes apple martinis, extra cherries." Santana said smoothly, sitting down next to Brittany at the bar. "Hey babe." She added, leaning over to hug Brittany, kissing her on the cheek.

Brittany raised an eyebrow, "how would you know that?"

Santana, who was wearing a white long sleeve fitted tshirt with ripped jeans, and red leather boots; her hair in high sleek bun shrugged. "When we were dating in highschool you always said that once you turned 21 your first official drink would be an apple martini with as many cherries as the bartender would give you."

"So that means I like them now?" Brittany asked.

Santana shrugged, but smirked as Brittany took a drink as soon as the martini was set in front of her. "I'll take a vodka on the rocks, two limes please." She ordered for her, pulling out her credit card and handing it to the bartender.

"What are you doing here?" Brittany asked.

"I actually come here all the time." Santana replied, "well often, I should say. You know it's like ten minutes from my place."

"I'm still getting used to New York, so I didn't even really notice." Brittany admitted.

Santana scanned over Brittany's body and licked her lips discreetly. "So how have you been?"

"Good, I'm on this crazy filming schedule for my channel, and I'm working on this collab with MTV right now for their Instagram account, so I'm just kind of overwhelmed and slightly stressed at the moment." Brittany explained. "So I need this drink, thank you."

Santana smiled, "you're welcome." She squeezed one of her limes in her drink and set the lime on a napkin. "You look great."

"You do too." Brittany replied right away. They sat in an awkward silence before Santana cleared her throat and turned her stool to face the blonde more.

"How about I make you a martini at my place instead?" Santana suggested, winking at the blonde, who blushed and quickly knocked her drink back, Santana following suit with her drink.

* * *

Santana slipped out of bed, tossing on a tank top before grabbing her robe, she leaned down and kissed Brittany on the shoulder before slipping out of the bedroom and walking to the kitchen. She made a carafe of coffee with her Keurig, before pouring cream in a small cup and grabbing a few sugar cubes, setting them all on a tray with two mugs, she grabbed two bananas and sliced them up, adding the to a bowl with sliced strawberries, yogurt, and granola. Picking up her phone that she left in the kitchen over night, and checked her text messages, replying to Quinn and Mercedes, and saving the others for later.

Brittany woke up and used the bathroom when she felt Santana slip out of bed, she was getting back in bed when Santana walked in the bedroom with the tray. "Good morning."

"Morning babe." Santana smiled softly, setting the tray down and getting back in bed, she leaned over and kissed Brittany deeply before pouring them each a cup of coffee.

"What are you up today?" Brittany asked.

"Relaxing really, I might do a little work, but we'll see." Santana replied, glancing at Brittany as she at a spoonful of yogurt. "I know that tonight I would like to take you to dinner."

Brittany glanced over at her, "really? Like on a date?"

"Yes." Santana nodded, tossing a piece of banana in her mouth. "Is that okay?"

"Sure, I mean of course." Brittany smiled.

Santana kissed her on the forehead. "We haven't had a proper date, so tonight is the night. Any ideas on dinner?"

"This is your thing." Brittany laughed. "You pick everything, and I'll be ready by 7, I'll text you my address." She added, taking another sip of her coffee.

Santana moved the tray to the end of the bed and began to tickle Brittany into submission, "so I get to be in charge."

"For once."

"Once?" Santana raised an eyebrow, now leaning flushing on the blonde.

Brittany flipped them over right away. "I like this view better."

* * *

**8:30pm**

Brittany sat in her living room, angrily staring at her phone, she sent Santana yet another text, following the 15 she had sent prior, them being a mixture of anger to concern, to anger again when she saw Santana was tagged in a picture of a glass of champagne. She ordered food from a Thai place she loved and changed out of her dress, slipping on a pair of sweats and turning on her laptop, going live on Youtube.

**Hey it's Brittany, welcome to _my little Pierce of the world_, let's talk about liars...**


	3. Chapter 3

**11pm**

Brittany jerked out of her trance from an incessant knocking at her door, she was laying on her couch, playing a game on her phone. She rubbed her eyes as she sat up and looked around, blinking to adjust her them from the bright glow of her phone since her apartment was no pitch black, before standing and jogging to the door when the knocking got louder.

"Brittany?" She heard Santana whisper questioningly, seemingly wondering if she was at the right door.

"Go away." Brittany said harshly through the door.

Santana sighed while getting close to the peephole. "I had a work thing that ran late and my cell phone died." She said quickly. "I'm not lying, I have my work laptop here to prove I _just _got done working."

"So how did you get my address?" Brittany asked, crossing her arms.

Santana sighed, "I remembered the apartment building address, but this is the fifth door I've knocked on. I couldn't fuckin remember the apartment number. I got cussed out twice, accused of being a mistress, and asked to watch someone's kid while they ran to the bodega up the street. She bought me a kitkat as a thank you." She added, holding up the candy to the peephole.

Brittany laughed softly before opening the door, since the kitkat story let her know she was talking about her neighbor, who would often have Brittany watch her kid, and always repaid her with a Kitkat. She took in Santana's outfit, a pair of wide leg black pinstripe dress slacks, a white collared button up shirt, underneath a houndstooth print v neck sweater, her red cashmere coat now open. She had her purse, a laptop bag, a weekender bag, a bouquet of flowers, and another brown paper bag in her hands. "Let me help you." She sighed, grabbing a few of the bags.

"I'm really sorry." Santana said sincerely, stepping out of her heels as Brittany took her coat from her. "I had dinner reservations for us and everything."

"You're freezing." Brittany said softly, kissing Santana on the cheek.

"It's fuckin cold out," Santana mumbled, tossing her weekender bag on the floor. She then straightened out her clothes and turned to Brittany with a smile, extending the flowers to her. "I got you these, I know how much you loved starburst lilies in highschool."

Brittany turned and smiled at the table by her balcony doors at the bouquet of lilies she already had before winking at the Latina. "Yes, I still love them." She nodded. "Thanks, let me put these in water, and I'll give you a quick tour."

Santana looked around, nodding approvingly at Brittany's decor, she smiled politely as Brittany walked back over and grabbed her hand to lead her around. Santana asking questions about different pieces of artwork that Brittany had on the walls and quickly frowning when Rachel's name came up more than one as the reason Brittany had a picture.

20 minutes later they were back in the living room where Santana opened the paper bag she had with her, and handed Brittany a cheese steak sub. "Did you eat already?" She asked.

"Nope, I was watching a movie and fell asleep, thank you for this." Brittany smiled warmly. Santana nodding and take a small bite as Brittany jumped up and went to her kitchen, Santana watching her carefully. Brittany grabbed two wine glasses before walking through the living room over to her small bar set up to the side where she had several bottle of wine. She casually opened a bottle of merlot and poured them each a glass, walking it over to Santana, leaning in close to kiss her softly before handing her the glass. "You're tense, what's wrong?" She asked the Latina, who was picking at her sandwhich.

"I feel like you don't believe me." Santana shrugged, taking a long sip, lifting the glass slightly, a silent thank you for the wine.

Brittany frowned and angled her body more towards the Latina while taking a bite of her sandwhich, she quirked her head to the side and chewed slowly. "What gives you that impression?" She asked softly. "If I didn't believe you, I wouldn't have opened the door. You came over still dressed for work, not a date night, you have a ton of bags with you, and you rushed over to plug in your phone first chance you got."

Santana nodded, "Yeah, I would never wear pants on our first date." She teased. "We are starting over or reuniting, which ever it is, and I just don't want you to think I'm flaky or anything like that."

"I don't." Brittany shook her head. "Did you plan on staying the weekend, what's with the bag?" She asked with a smile.

Santana glanced at her bag and laughed softly. "Well I planned on staying the night at least, but the bag is because I'm going with Quinn to Philly for the weekend, and we are leaving right after work. I have a half day tomorrow, and I don't exactly live close to the train station or work, so I didn't want to rush home after work."

"I heard you two hooked up in college." Brittany laughed. "Is that true?"

Santana rolled her eyes playfully but nodded. "Yeah, we made plans to meet up in New York as a little girls trip, she wanted to visit Rachel. I had Mercedes come as a buffer, we all went out to eat, then for drinks afterwards, Mercedes went for a night cap with some guy she met, and Rachel went home so Quinn and I opened a bottle of tequila, and we just sat up and talked all night."

"Until you had sex?" Brittany asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No., we didn't that night, we just talked, I learned more about Quinn that night then I did all four years of highschool. It was a different..." Santana shook her head, before knocking back her glass of wine. "I really don't want to talk about this, B."

Brittany shrugged. "Okay, one more question." Santana sighed but nodded as she poured herself another glass of wine. "Was it just sex or a relationship?"

Santana cleared her throat. "It was a situationship, it lasted for a few months, and that was it. She was in Connecticut, I was in Kentucky, it's not like we were close. We always just met in New York. It ended years ago, we are really close friends now, nothing more."

"Okay."

"Yeah, so she invited me to go to a wedding with her, one of her sorority sisters, I'm just going for the free steak dinner, and to get away for a little bit." Santana replied, adjusting her trouser socks and fixing her pants leg again, pull her hair down and running her fingers through it. "We are taking a train down tomorrow, then the wedding is on Saturday, I'll be back home Sunday evening." She yawned. "Then hopefully by Tuesday or Wednesday I can replan a new date night for us, depending on our schedules, I mean I don't know your filming schedule."

Brittany smiled, happy that Santana seemed to take what she did for work seriously. "We'll figure it out."

Santnaa nodded, "I hope so, because as I much as I have loved our recent escapades, I want us to be more than just sex, we were best friends at one point, and I miss that."

"Awww Santana, I miss that you, honey, and best friends don't just stop being best friends, we lost our way a little, but it's not coincidence that we both just so happen to be at Qdoba that day, this is fate, we were supposed to reconnect. We've always been more than just sex, that won't change." She smiled softly at her, causing Santana to blush. "You look so tired, you should have just went home." Brittany frowned softly as Santana moved over to sit next to her, resting her head on Brittany's shoulder, when the blonde opened her arms to her.

"Long day at work, then having to take the meeting after work was unexpected and draining. I'm exhausted, but I didn't want you to think I stood you up or anything." Santana stated. "If I went home I would have to wait for my phone to charge and all this other shit, so I just came straight here, I couldn't find my damn car charger, I think Quinn has it, to be honest."

"Hmmmm." Brittany hummed softly. "Well you said you're staying the night, right?"

"Mmmhmmm." Santana nodded, sighing softly.

"Why don't you go get comfortable." Brittany suggested. "I can clean up in here, and we can watch a movie and relax a little."

"Okay." Santana yawned as Brittany kissed her repeatedly on the forehead. She stood up and grabbed her bag walking back to Brittany's bedroom. She quickly made herself at home and hopped in the shower, wanting to wash the day away as quickly as possible. Brittany heard the shower come on and began to clean up the living room area, quickly rinsing out their wine glasses, and grabbing bottles of water. By the time she was dimming the lights Santana walked in the living room, wearing a pair of black leggings, a white New York Knicks tshirt, her hair now in a messy bun on her head, and a pair of red square framed glasses on her face now.

Brittany sat on the couch and opened her arms wide, Santana blushing but cuddling close. "I hate that this happened tonight, and then I'm going out of town right away tomorrow. How about I make it up to you next week, with a trip?"

"A trip?" Brittany raised an eyebrow, leaning back to see Santana's face. "Are we ready for trips together?"

"A quick overnight trip, nothing super crazy." Santana shrugged. "If you aren't cool with that, then we don't have to. I was thinking something quick, like just to Atlantic City or down to DC."

Brittany chewed on her bottom lip, looking deep in Santana's eyes. "Sure, an overnight date sounds great."

"Sweet." Santana smiled, leaning forward and pressing their lips together, lazily kissing Brittany before the blonde broke the kiss with a smile.

"Let's go to bed." Brittany suggest, standing up and leading Santana to her bedroom.

* * *

Santana was fast asleep, her leaning against the window as she rode the train with Quinn to Philadelphia. Santana woke up around 5am that morning and cooked breakfast for Brittany; spinach, bacon and feta omelets, a fruit salad on the side, while mixing up whipped coffee. After they ate breakfast, she headed into work early, needing to finish up work on some cases, and take a few meetings before leaving around noon. They were an hour into the trip when Santana's cell phone began to chime with notification after notification. Quinn, who was setting next to her doing work on her iPad glanced over at her friend's phone, that was laying across her lap. She saw Brittany's picture appear on the screen as the blonde called her, and quickly quirked an eyebrow.

Santana shifted and woke up glancing down at her phone, checking her notifications before looking at Quinn, who was staring at her. "What?" She rolled her eyes, while sitting up and clearing her throat, and rolling her neck around.

"Brittany?" Quinn smiled.

"Huh?"

"Brittany has called and texted you." Quinn stated, "since when are you two back in contact?"

Santana nodded that she now understood the question and shrugged. "A couple of weeks ago I ran into her at Qdoba, we've hung out a few times."

"You two have never just _hung out_." Quinn laughed, "wait...she's in New York, like living?"

Santana nodded. "Yeah, she's this famous Youtuber and works with MTV, and some other companies on brands and promo. It's actually cool."

"I'm in the industry, how didn't I know that?" Quinn frowned.

"You work for CNN, babe, you aren't covering pop news." Santana reminded her with a smile. Quinn was the executive producer for a CNN evening show, and didn't exactly keep up with Youtube trends, but swore she knew everything that went on in the entertainment industry.

Quinn pursed her lips. "Whatever, well that is really cool. So you two, what's up with that?"

Santana shrugged. "I don't know yet, I mean we've slept together, obvi." She smirked before blushing. "But I really want to get to know her as an adult, we are in our twenties now, and I really haven't seen her or talked to since we were teenagers, you know? I'm different now, I'm settled in my career, more mature, have a better since of self, and I know the same is for her. She exudes confidence, she's different, and I want to get to know adult Brittany."

"You sound smitten already." Quinn smiled.

"I might be, Brittany was my first love, sure I've dated since that, but nothing has ever felt super real with me, when I saw her it was a wave of emotions. I didn't realize how much I really missed her." She added softly.

Quinn nodded. "Well, you two _always_ have my vote and support to rekindle Brittana." She teased.

"Thanks." Santana replied. "Oh, I gave Thaddeus your Instagram account today, he'll be DMing you, if that doesn't work out, I know someone else at my job for you, not in my department, but he still has an amazing job."

* * *

Santana followed Quinn into what she thought was just their double queen size room for the weekend, she stopped and grinned while looking around at the spacious suite. "Whoa, Q." She laughed while setting her bag on the couch. "You loosened the purse strings for this weekend." She teased, since Quinn was known to be frugal with her money, while Santana often indulged in expensive things.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Quinn shrugged. "I need to make a call, so why don't we relax for a bit then head out for some drinks around 3?"

"Sure, I'll even treat." She winked, picking up her bag and headed to one of the bedrooms, sitting in the chair after taking her coat off and hanging it up. She immediately FaceTimed Brittany and smiled the moment she came into view.

**Hey Brit Brit**

_Hey Sanny, how was the train ride?_

**Okay, I slept most of the way. I really need this trip to hopefully relax a little, which is hard to do at a wedding weekend. **

Brittany smiled and nodded _Yeah I'm sure it would be, well what about tonight? Try to get a good night's rest._

**Honestly, I never get a good night sleep in a hotel bed.**

_Really? I feel like I sleep the best in hotels. I'm not thinking about anythng and can just zone out kind of._

Santana smiled. **I never thought about it that way. Well Quinn and I are going out for drinks and dinner, then I'm sure she'll do something with some of her sorority sisters, maybe I can relax then.**

_I'm sure you can. Well thanks for calling and letting me know you made it safely. _

**Of course, I'm going to freshen up a bit and get ready to leave, but I'll call you tonight.**

_I look forward to it. _Brittany smiled before waving at the camera and winking as she disconnected the call.

* * *

**9pm**

Santana knocked back the rest of her dirty martini, popping the olive in her mouth and chewing slowly while nodding to the bartender and tapping her glass that she wanted another one.

"You've been at the bar being weird all night." Quinn groaned when she danced her way over to her friend.

Santana raised an eyebrow at laughed. "I didn't want to come out with those bitches you call friends, and you know that." She laughed. "I'm watching the game anyways." She nodded to the TV that was on over the bar.

Quinn, who dressed in a pair of fitted burgundy slacks with a sheer white top on rolled her eyes. She grabbed Santana's class and took a sip of her martini before she could protest and danced away back over to the group of women she was with. Santana stared at them, locking eyes with Chance, Quinn's sorority sister that had been flirting with her all night, Santana not giving her the time of day at all.

"A shot from the lady in black." The bartender told Santana, setting down a double shot of tequila with a lime in it.

Santana rolled her eyes pushing it away, not waning to give Chance the wrong idea when she heard Brittany. "Tuh, that shot cost me fifteen dollars, I got you the good stuff." She teased.

Santana looked up quickly before jumping up and hugging the blonde. "What the fuck?!" She laughed, kissing Brittany softly on the lips.

"Well, I want to show you how to relax out of town." Brittany shrugged, nodding a thank you to Quinn for a heads up on their location.

"No, you can't be here, I don't want you bored while we are at the wedding tomorrow." Santana replied, "I won't be able to focus."

"I'll be working, doing a video on the best cheesesteak." Brittany winked.

"Can I do that with you, well at least taste test?" Santana asked, "it's a sunset wedding, so I have all morning and afternoon."

"Of course, let's get out here." Brittany nodded, laughing when Santana knocked back her shot, and left a fifty dollar bill for her two martinis on the bar.

* * *

**RIP Naya**


	4. Chapter 4

**11pm **Santana and Brittany stepped out of a long hot shower, Brittany wrapping a towel around her herself before quickly grabbing one for Santana and opening her arms for the Latina to walk into. Brittany hugged her tightly and peppered soft kisses all over her face before the two made their way to the bedroom, each getting dressed in pajamas. Santana put on an oversized white long sleeve tshirt with a pair of black pajama shorts and long red and white Nike knee high socks. She twisted her hair in a high ponytail and did her nightly face routine, while Brittany slipped on a black tank top with a pair of black pajama pants, white sheep outlined in yellow all over them. She mimicked Santana and did her nightly facial routine.

"Feeling tired yet?" Brittany asked, sitting on the bed and looking over at the Latina.

"Kind of." Santana shrugged. "I feel like it's early, it's only 11pm, and it's Friday." She laughed slightly.

"Well, this is how you wind down." Brittany smiled, pulling the sheets back and watching Santana slip in the bed. "You have to get yourself ready for bed. Long hot shower, now we are going to lay down and just relax, whether that's watching a tv show, or reading. You want to get your body super relaxed so you easily just drift to sleep."

They laid down, facing each other, smiling softly at each other before Santana leaned forward and kissed Brittany gently on the lips. Brittany deepened the kiss just enough to make Santana moan lowly, and pull her closer. Santana slipped her hand under Brittany's tank, running her hand up and down her back before before beginning to place hot open mouth kisses down her neck, before moving back to Brittany's mouth, the blonde breaking the kiss as she rolled them over. Brittany settled on top of Santana, locking eyes with the brown ones underneath her. Looking deep in Santana's eyes caused a rush of emotions to wash over her. She felt a lump in her throat forming, as tears clouded her eyes.

"Hey..." Santana asked quickly, using the pad of her thumb to wipe away a stray tear that slid down Brittany's check. "What..."

Brittany smiled and shook her head. "I'm okay, just right now, locking eyes with you, looking at you, I love you, Santana. I still love you, and it just hit me right now."

Santana blinked slowly. "I love you too, Brittany." She whispered, tears springing to her own eyes. "I know I truly love you because all I'm thinking about is hugging you right now, not sex. I just want to hold you, close and tight, so our heartbeats can sync again, and find the perfect rhythm."

Brittany blushed wildly, "poetic." She teased to lighten the mood.

Santana nodded slowly and firmly. "I'm glad we ran into each other, I'm glad we are back in each other's life, in whatever capacity that might be."

"Girlfriends." Brittany stated.

"Oh, you're asking me to make it official?" Santana raised an eyebrow with a smile.

"I'm not asking, I'm telling you what we are." Brittany stated matter of factly, a small smirk on her face.

Santana pressed their lips together softly and pulled Brittany to hug her tightly, sighing in contentment when she felt their heartbeats match up and begin to beat in rhythm.

* * *

**9am**

Quinn slowly walked out of her hotel room into the main suite, she zoned in on the small kitchenette area and began to fumble with the coffee pot when the suite door opened, revealing a bright eyed and smiling Brittany carrying a box of coffee from Starbucks.

"Good morning." Brittany smiled, "and heyyyyy!" She added loudly setting the coffee down and running over to hug Quinn.

"Good morning, you look so amazing Brittany, it's so good to see you." Quinn beamed. "We definitely need to catch up this morning, since you two ran out of the bar last night and ditched me." She laughed to herself, wiggling her fingers and accepting the coffee Brittany poured for her. "Where's Santana?"

"Asleep still." Brittany replied. "We didn't ditch you," she laughed. "We stayed for an hour at the bar talking."

"Mmmmhmmm." Quinn smirked. "Well I'm happy you made it safely and found us okay, any problem with the front desk letting you in when you first arrived."

"Nope, thanks for leaving my name at the desk, they gave me the key right away."

"Great, and thanks for the Starbucks!" Quinn beamed, pouring herself a cup right away.

"I just knew you would need some real coffee, and not the cheap hotel stuff. I heard you stumble in last night." Brittany laughed loudly.

Quinn groaned, "yeah I might have went too far last night, but wedding weekends are meant to party, right?"

Brittany laughed, "well I was hoping we could all go out for some food in another couple of hours, my treat."

Taking a long satisfying sip of her coffee, Quinn nodded. "That actually sounds great, I'll hop in the shower to wake me up a little more, I definitely need some food in me." She added. "Really good to see you again, babe." Quinn winked, turning to head back to her room.

Brittany poured herself a cup of coffee, before grabbing a cup for Santana, only adding in a teaspoon of sugar for her. She slipped in the bedroom quietly, smiling at how peaceful Santana looked, hugging a pillow tightly, a contented smile on her face. "She's so beautiful." Brittany whispered, leaning down and moving some of Santana's hair out of her face, pressing a soft kiss to her temple. Santana sighed in her sleep before stirring slightly as she started to wake up.

"Good morning." Santana rasped as Brittany slipped back in bed, Santana moving to lay across her lap.

"Morning, babe." Brittany smiled, rubbing her back as Santana seemingly started to fall back to sleep, her eyes closing again. "I got you some coffee from Starbucks, and I just saw Quinn in the common area and I told her I wanted to take you both to breakfast so we could catch up."

"Okay." Santana mumbled while replying, her eyes still closed.

"Someone had a good night sleep." Brittany replied, running her fingers through Santana's hair, slightly scratching her scalp, something she knew in highschool always relaxed her. She laughed softly to herself when Santana started to snore softly, she continued to lightly massage her scalp as Santana forced herself to wake up.

"If you want me to wake up, you have to stop doing that." Santana smiled, opening her eyes. "Yes, this is one of the best night's sleep I've probably ever had. Thank you."

Brittany smiled as Santana sat up and kissed her softly on the cheek before stretching and getting out of bed. "No need to thank me, I just showed you how to wind yourself down enough to relax before people. You're still so high strung." She added softly, not wanting to offend Santana. "I think you are just so wound up at night that unless you are super exhausted, or just finished having sex, your body just isn't relaxed enough."

The Latina nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I found out I have anxiety issues in college, I know how to manage it and even have a prescription for when it gets too, too bad." She added confidently. "i used to be super embarrassed about it, but it's something I think you should know if we are together."

Brittany raised an eyebrow at her. "Nothing to be embarrassed about at all."

Santana nodded and took a long sip of her coffee. "Thanks." She winked at Brittany before heading to the bathroom.

* * *

**3 weeks later **

Brittany jogged up the street and into a small cafe, looking around for Santana, who was staring at her phone at a table over in the corner. "Hey, sorry I'm late." Brittany stated, leaning down and kissing Santana on the cheek, startling her initially.

"Hey, it's okay." Santana shrugged, tossing her phone in her Louis Vuitton purse that was sitting on the table. "How did your meeting go?" She asked taking a sip of her latte.

Brittany tossed her coat on the empty chair next to her and smiled. "Good, I'm going to be taking over MTV's instagram account for a day, so we are still working through details, and I need to kind of outline what I'm going to do."

"Nice, do they expect you to do anything specific?" Santana asked, smiling politely at the waitress, that brought Brittany a glass of water.

"Can i get you anything?" The waitress asked.

Brittany glanced up, "a vanilla chai, please." She responded, before focusing back on Santana. "No, it's more of just a _day in the life _type of situation. I've done one before, not with MTV but with someone else, I did a lot of random stuff, typical day for me, and it went over really well."

Santana smiled. "Cool, I'll have to follow MTV on Instagram so I can see it."

"How was your day?" Brittany asked.

Santana shrugged, "work is crazy busy right now, but busy is always good, so I can't complain."

"I've missed you." Brittany blushed. Even the though made their relationship official in Philadelphia they two maintained very separate lives. They were still learning more about each other as adults, they talked every day on the phone, FaceTiming every evening they weren't together before bed. Santana had only stayed over Brittany's house one weekend, never staying over during the week, and Brittany stayed over Santana's the following weekend. They didn't exchange keys to their apartments, and the idea of living together never came up. They were in a comfortable place, that both of them loved.

"I missed you two." Santana replied, reaching over and grabbing Brittany's hand. "We've both been busy this week, so I'm happy we could meet finally today for coffee."

"Well I'm free all night, but no pressure." Brittany shrugged.

Santana nodded. "I planned on following you home, I'm due for a cuddle sesh with wine." She laughed. "Do you want to grab dinner while we are out or do you want me to cook something?"

"We can cook together." Brittany suggested. "I went grocery shopping a few days ago so the fridge and pantry are pretty stocked."

"Okay, sounds like a plan." Santana nodded.

"Something is on your mind." Brittany stated as the waitress brought her coffee out to her. "Talk to me."

Santana took a sip of her coffee and glanced out the window before locking eyes with Brittany again. "How often do you go back to Lima?"

Brittany shrugged, "a few times a year. I was there for Christmas last year..."

"I was there for Christmas too, what the hell, how didn't we run into each other?!" Santana asked. "I was home fro the 23rd to the 29th, then I came back to New York for Near Year's, well I was in Chicago with Q and Mercedes, but yeah."

"I was home those exact same days, I went to Breadstix and everything." Brittany smiled.

"I _always_ go to Breadstix!" Santana laughed loudly. "The world is so fucked up, why wouldn't we run into each other at least once."

Brittany laughed and shrugged. "Confession...I used to always hope to run into you around Lima, I would get these daydreams of me running into somewhere random, like the gas station, or the pharmacy...but it never happened."

Santana blushed. "Same. I would see blonde hair and swear it was you. I as with Mercedes at a bar one night, and this chick walked in with blonde hair and I swore it was you, even yelled your name until she looked up."

Brittany laughed. "Well. we were meant to reconnect now for a reason." She shrugged. "Maybe the universe wasn't ready for our paths to cross."

"Hmmmm, well ready to get out of here?" Santana asked hurriedly.

"Sure." Brittany nodded, noting something was on her mind, but wanted to give her time to tell her.

* * *

Santana skillfully cut a red, yellow, and orange pepper before tossing them in a skillet with garlic and butter. She was sining along to the radio, dancing slightly as she prepared a sauteed chicken and veggie dish for her and Brittany. Brittany took a phone call from her mom so she was back in her bedroom on the phone. Santana would hear her laugh loudly occasionally, which would cause her to smile at how giddy and happy Brittany sounded. Taking a sip of her wine Santana glanced down at her phone and replied back to a text message from Quinn inviting her and Brittany to a game night party at her house the next week. As Santana was replying that she would talk to Brittany about it, she felt Brittany's arms snake around her, soft kisses on the back of her neck.

"How's your mom?" Santana asked, turning to catch Brittany's lips in a sweet kiss.

"She's good." Brittany replied, "headed to my little sister's basketball game."

"Basketball? I would have never picked that sport for her, super cool." Santana smiled as she stirred her sauce and held up the spoon to Brittany's lips to taste.

"Damn." Brittany licked her lips, "you really are a good cook."

"Cooking channel to the rescue." Santana laughed. "I learned how to make different sauces watching Chopped. I also write down what they are using for quick dressings and sauces."

Brittany laughed, "cool." She then took the spoon and held it up to Santana's lips, the Latina tasting it and nodding in approval while they locked eyes. Santana licked her lips before before leaning forward and swallowing Brittany's lips in a deep kiss. Brittany moaned lowly as the kiss quickly intensified while pulling Santana closer, her hands now in the Latina's hair. Santana turned Brittany and lifted her on the counter, moving the sauce off of the fire and turning down the vegetables as well before turning back to Brittany, walking in between her legs and kissing her deeply again.

Santana lifted Brittany's tshirt over her head, tossing it to the floor quickly before leaning forward and kissing down her chest, skillfully unhooking her bra with one hand using the other to palm her breast before taking a nipple in her mouth, causing Brittany to moan and tangle her hands in her hair. Loud, wet, sloppy kisses began to get exchanged before Brittany hopped down and pulled Santana to the living room with her, quickly undressing the Latina and laying her on the couch, immediately opening her legs and tasting her, Santana squirming and shrieking underneath, pulling her hair.

"Brit...fuck, baby, oh shit." Santana rambled out as she felt Brttany's tongue deeper and deeper. Brittany glanced up, smirking as Santana's eyes rolled in the back of her head and she began even more submissive. she began to roll her tongue in her girlfriend before kissing a trail up her body and landing on her mouth, Santana immediately kissing her hungrily while wrapping her legs around her.

Santana quickly pulled down Brittany's pants, the blonde settling on her thigh and beginning to rock slowly, while they kissing deeply and slowly. "I love you." Brittany whispered when they locked eyes. "I love you." She repeated as she slipped two fingers into Santana.

"i, I love you too." Santana moaned as Brittany found a smooth rhythm while rocking on her thigh, building herself up. They stayed in a deep, intense kiss, neither bothering to break for hair. Brittany had her arm wrapped underneath the Latina, holding her in place while Santana had both of her hugging Brittany, occasionally running her hands up and down Brittany's now slick back. As they both got closer to climaxing, Brittany broke the kiss and hid her face in Santana's neck, moaning loudly while grunting as she tried her hardest to her rhythm in Santana steady.

Minutes later Brittany screamed out in pleasure, Santana following suit, her nudging Brittany's face to kiss her. "Whew..." Santana breathed out with a smile when Brittany finally caught her breath and slid her fingers out of her, licking them clean before kissing Santana again.

"That was unexpected." Brittany breathed out.

Santana nodding in reply with a smirk. "I love it though, let's get clenaed up so I can finish dinner."

Brittany nodded before kissing all over her face and standing up, them both gathering their clothes and heading to rinse off in the shower.

* * *

**Midnight**

Santana and Brittany were cuddled in and out of sleep on the couch, Brittany was laying behind her girlfriend, spooning her tightly while peppering the occasional kiss to her neck.

"I haven't told my mom about us, yet." Santana said suddenly.

"I haven't told my mom either." Brittany shrugged, before they both started laughing. "What's your reason?"

Santana turned to face her. "I almost don't feel like this is real, what if I'm dreaming and as soon as I say something I wake up?"

Brittany stared at her, before kissing her on the forehead, resting her hand on her hip and squeezing their softly. "I just want to keep you in my private bubble for a little bit." She shrugged. "We don't have to make a spectacle of us, we aren't secretly dating, obviously since we go out on dates all the time, we are always in coffee shops, restaurants, and bars."

"I guess you're right." Santana responded. "Scratch that, I know you're right." She winked, kissing her quickly. "Oh, Quinn invited us to a game night at her place next week. Want to go? Q's game nights are actually pretty epic, always a great time."

"Sure, I would love to go, sounds gun." Brittany replied.

"Cool."


	5. Chapter 5

"Santana, honey, you are going to be late for work." Brittany said softly, rubbing her girlfriends back soothingly. Santana was laying on her stomach, facing away from Brittany, fast asleep, snoring softly. "Santana..."

"I'm not going in today." Santana mumbled softly.

Brittany raised an eyebrow and sat up, looking at her girlfriend, since ever since the two reconnected Santana has been a huge workaholic and never missed work, even logging into her laptop and doing work on Saturday and the occasional Sunday. "Are you okay?"

"I don't feel the greatest." Santana shrugged, turning to snuggle into Brittany's chest, sighing softly against her collarbone, as Brittany wrapped her arms around her and hugged her, kissing her on the forehead, to see if she had a fever. Brittany came over to her apartment around 7pm the night before when Santana asked her to come over for dinner. The two cooked together before binging Chopped on Netflix, the Latina being quieter than normal, but seemed perfectly fine. They went to bed relatively early that night after taking a long hot shower together, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

"You don't have a fever." Brittany frowned. "Stomach hurt?"

"I just need a mental health day." Santana sighed, rubbing her face against Brittany before wiggling to get comfortable.

Brittany chewed on her bottom lip for a few moments before clearing her throat. "Do you want me to go home?"

Santana opened her eyes and leaned back to lock eyes with Brittany. "Of course not." She replied. "I just need a day to myself without work." She shrugged, reaching behind her and grabbing her cell phone off of the nightstand. She quickly typed up an email and sent it to her boss before turning to snuggle back into Brittany. "I just need a day to do nothing."

Brittany nodded and rubbed her back again, before running her fingers through Santana's hair, lighting massaging her scalp. She knew how stressed the Latina had been the past couple of days at work, so she wasn't surprised at how tired she was. She had been staying up after midnight working on proposals and presentations, always in conference calls and meetings, she saw the stress all over her face. She stayed over a nights earlier in the week, and noticed how restless Santana was at night while sleeping. The Latina would toss and turn most of the night, sometimes even getting out of bed and going to the lviing room and watching tv for half hour before coming back to bed and snuggling as close as possible to Brittany, waiting for her to instinctively hold her in her sleep.

"Anything I can do to help you today?" Brittany asked.

Santana shook her head. "Nope, nothing special, just hang out with me today, unless you have filming to do."

"I don't." Brittany replied. "I do have some editing to do for a few videos, but I can do that here, I have my laptop."

"Okay." Santana mumbled. "Come back to sleep." She then added, kissing Brittany on the collarbone and wiggling impossibly closer to her.

* * *

**2pm**

Brittany sat on the floor in front of Santana's coffee table, her iPad propped up while she typed quickly on the bluetooth keyboard that was attached. She also had her laptop opened next to her, and would glance over at the screen, typing on the laptop before going back to her iPad and making more notes. She stayed in bed with Santana until around 10am, cuddling with her while she peacefully slept on her chest. Brittany finally got out of bed and made herself a light breakfast with some of the cut up fruit that Santana had in her fridge while she aimlessly browsed the internet, studying new trends on social media while catching up on entertainment news that happened overnight, wanting to see if anything was worth her making a quick video for her youtube channel, before beginning to outline some ideas she had for upcoming videos.

"Hey..." Santana said softly, finally emerging from the bedroom and sitting on the couch next to Brittany, leaning down to kiss her on the top of the head.

Brittany took her airpods out of her ears and smiled while looking up. "Look who's finally up, I was starting to get worried." She teased.

Santana blushed slightly, "sorry." She replied, hugging Brittany from behind before walking to the kitchen and making a mug of tea, staring at Brittany the entire time. "Did you eat lunch?"

Brittany glanced up, "not yet." She shook her head, "I've been trying to get some work done." She replied. "Are you okay?" She then asked, saving her document and walked to the kitchen, leaning against the counter.

"Yeah...I just needed some time this morning." Santana shrugged, grabbing her mug and adding a spoonful of sugar. "I'm so stressed with work right now. I don't usually take days or call in, which I'm sure you've noticed by now. I end up letting things build up, until I reach a point when I'm forced to take a mental health day."

Brittany watched Santana hop on the counter and walked between her legs, holding her by the hips. "I remember back in highschool, you would do the same thing. You would study like crazy for tests, while obsessing over cheerleading routines, and then learning dance routines for glee club, until you would finally crash, and miss a day of school."

Santana took a sip of her tea, before looking down, avoiding Brittany's gaze. "I can't let anyone down, and I can't let myself down, I've always pushed myself too far."

"Well, I won't let that happen anymore." Brittany smiled softly, leaning up to kiss her softly on the lips. "Do you have plans the rest of the day?"

Santana shook her head, taking another sip of her tea. "Nope, just sleeping." She teased.

Brittany laughed. "Nope, we are going to do something fun."

Santana raised an eyebrow at her and shook her head softly. "I'm sorry babe, I really just want stay around the house today, and sleep."

"Are you okay, Santana?" Brittany asked seriously.

"Yes." Santana nodded firmly. "Just need a day to clear my head and chill out." She replied as Brittany squeezed her hips gently and locked eyes with her, "I'm okay, B, seriously. Don't you want to cuddle in bed with me all day and watch Netflix?"

Brittany chewed on her bottom lip, not entirely convinced but since she didn't want to start an argument, so nodded and smiled slightly. "Sure, sounds good. Want to order some food?"

Santana shook her head. "I can make us something quick."

* * *

**8pm**

Santana sighed in her sleep and she began to snore softly, she was laying across Brittany's lap while the blonde sat up against the headboard in bed. After Santana make them ramen for a quick lunch, they went back to the bedroom where they were set to watch TV but Santana immediately laid down and curled into a ball, falling asleep quickly. Brittany raised an eyebrow at her but spooned her and took a quick nap with her. Brittany rubbed Santana's back while looking down at her, "what is going on with you today?" She frowned as her phone went off with a text message. She moved Santana slightly so she could reach her phone, laughing softly when Santana whined lowly before getting back comfortable when Brittany leaned back to her original spot.

**Hello**

_Hey Brittany, it's Quinn_

**Oh, hey Quinn, what's up?**

_Have you heard from Santana today, we were supposed to meet for lunch and she never showed, or called. That's not like her, even if she's held up at work she always sends an email. I'm a little worried. _

**She's right here, fast asleep. She didn't go to work today, said she needed a mental health day, so she's been sleeping all day. I'm still getting to know Santana as an adult, is this normal, should I be worried?**

_She's probably stressed, it's happened before, she just needs to sleep it off._

**Oh**

_I think it has to do with her anxiety, so if she is shutting down and sleeping she feels like it is going to get bad and is trying to get ahead of it. Let her know I called you looking for her, and she can give me a call back tomorrow or in a few days. _

**Got it**

_Have a good night_

**Thanks, you too.**

Brittany checked Santana's neck for a fever before shuffling down to get more comfortable, she began to blush when Santana cuddled in her side and held her tightly. She googled anxiety and read and article about it, making some mental notes, but turning on Disney+ and browsing through the titles, setting on the latest Aladdin. She peppered kisses to Santana's face before focusing on the movie.

* * *

**7am**

Brittany woke up when she felt the bed dip, and Santana's lips ghosting over her temple. "Good morning." Brittany whispered, before opening her eyes, focusing them on Santana, who was sitting on the side of the bed; she was dressed in black slacks, with a red cashmere sweater, her hair was in soft curls and pinned to the side.

"Good morning." Santana smiled, rubbing her hand lotion in before slipping on the heart shaped pinky ring she's worn on her right hand since college, and grabbing her apple watch off of the charger on night stand, clasping it on. "Thank you for yesterday." She said quickly and sincerely. "I heard you on the phone with Q, and I know I might have scared you a little, and I'm sorry for that. So, the reason I called you over the night before is because I was stressed with work and felt my anxiety getting crazy, and I thought hanging out you with would help, which it did that night, but when I woke up yesterday I felt sick to my stomach, stressed." She explained. "I was being selfish by wanting you around, so I'm sorry if you had other shit to do and I kept you from doing anything."

"You didn't." Brittany replied while sitting up. "I can work anywhere, beauty of my job." She winked. "I'm glad you're feeling better, anything else I can do."

Santana shook her hear. "A full day or sleeping did the trick." She smiled. "I'm still try to find that work/home balance with my career, and I'm failing miserably." She laughed. "I'm going in the office today but I would love to take you to dinner tonight, unless you have something to do?"

"I'm free." Brittany smiled. "7pm?"

"Perfect, we can work out deets later." Santana nodded before grabbing a small box off of her dresser and handing it to Brittany. "Keys to my place, I don't want you to feel rushed when I leave for work."

"Thanks, babe." Brittany smiled, leaning forward and pressing their lips together.

"You're welcome." Santana nodded. "I gotta get going, I want to get to work early to make up for some of the time I missed yesterday. I'll call you later, take all the time you need to get dressed to leave." She added, leaning down and pressing their lips together, pushing her tongue in Brittany's mouth and moaning softly when Brittany stroked her tongue against hers. "I love you." She added, grabbing her laptop bag off the chair in the corner.

"I love you, too. See you later." Brittany smiled. Santana winked at her before leaving the room.

* * *

"So what's new?" Rachel asked Brittany, a huge smile on her face while taking a sip of her wine. Since Rachel was in town she called Brittany to invite her to lunch so the two of them could catch up.

"Just working like crazy I feel." Brittany laughed. "Between filming videos, and coming up with new ideas for videos, working with MTV, gust hosting different Instagram accounts, and trying to keep up with trends I've been super busy, but I'm grateful for all the opportunities and love every second of it. I'm blessed to have such a cool job, but it's definitely demanding."

"I still think it's super cool that this is your career now." Rachel smiled. "You are glowing, Brittany." She said suddenly. "This is the same glow you had the last time I saw you."

Brittany blushed and shook her head to ignore Rachel, waving her off while taking a sip of her martini.

"Who's the guy, or girl?" Rachel asked.

"Santana."

Rachel's face instantly dropped into a scowl. "Lopez?"

"Yeah." Brittany blushed, brightly this time.

"Brittany, I thought we agreed that you weren't going to contact Santana, leave highschool in the past." Rachel frowned.

"No, we didn't agree to that at all." Brittany said quickly. "You mentioned that you and Santana had a fight in Times Square, but by that time we had already rekindled and started sleeping together."

Rachel sighed. "Well, I can say that she always has treated you like a queen." She shrugged. "If she is keeping that glow on your skin and smile on your face then I guess I can be excited for you."

Brittany laughed. "Gee thanks, she is different now, I don't know the last time you two were in a room together but she's super mature, I think you two would get along great."

Laughing loudly Rachel shook her head. "I'm sure Santana is a fine, professional woman with a great job, but friends...no. She has the emotional maturity of a teenager."

"No, that's not true at all." Brittany frowned. "How about the three of us meet for drinks, and you can see for yourself. You're one of my best friends, and she is my girlfriend, and the love of my life, so I need you two to be cordial."

"I'm willing to meet with Santana." Rachel nodded.

"Sweet, I'll talk to her and set something up for the three of us soon, maybe it can be super lowkey and just at my apartment."

"Great." Rachel smiled tightly.

"So, how is the U.S. tour is going?" Brittany asked. "I can't wait until you're back in New York so I can get tickets and come to a show."

* * *

"This is a beautiful spot." Brittany smiled as Santana set her menu down after ordering appetizers for the two of them.

"I know right." Santana smiled. "I've been here a few times with coworkers for meetings, I thought you would like it, it's cozy."

"Definitely, so how was work?" She then asked, sliding over in the booth so she was closer to Santana, and grabbing her hand, running her fingers over her knuckles.

Santana shrugged. "Work was okay, taking off yesterday definitely set me back a little, but it was okay."

"Quinn's game night is this week right?" Brittany asked.

"Yeah on Friday night, something come up and you can't make it?" Santana asked quickly.

"NO, I'll definitely be there." Brittany assured her, "Saturday morning we are taking a little trip, so take off Monday and Tuesday."

"Brit..."

Brittany shook her head. "Nope, don't complain about missing work, you need this, and I'm going to be super busy coming up, I want us to spend some time together, some uninterrupted time, soon."

Santana frowned. "I don't mind taking the time off, but you are saying it like you are leaving town."

Brittany nodded. "I'm headed to LA for probably a week or two, work stuff."

"Fuck..." Santana groaned. "When we got back together I never really thought about you having to travel or be away for periods of time, I guess I don't fully understand how your job works completely."

"I wish you could come." Brittany batted her eyes with a big smile.

Santana laughed. "Oh no, don't do that...I can't miss that much work. I would be willing to skip a trip this weekend and meet you in LA for a long weekend, however."

Brittany raised an eyebrow, "really? You wouldn't mind."

"Mind going to LA in March, absolutely not." Santana laughed while smiling brightly.

Brittany tapped her glass for a minute, "how about I stay for the two weeks and you join me for the second week, that way we can truly have a vacation to ourselves."

"I like that idea." Santana nodded, pulling out her phone and sending an email to her boss right away, putting him on notice that she would be taking some time off.


End file.
